Recently, while on a short vacation from my job as a Marine infantry company commander, I took a plane from Atlanta to Las Vegas. As always, I saw numerous soldiers and airmen in the terminals, traveling in their camouflage uniforms and no doubt on their way to a new duty station or a military school of some sort.

On the plane I took out of Atlanta, there were a few young airmen in their uniforms traveling together. As they boarded some of the passengers clapped, and other whistled, and one of the other passengers even went as far as to buy them all lunch. The stewardesses even made an announcement over the PA system for the person who bought them lunch, and also thanked the airmen for their service.

I think that all of this is great, the young guys need the recognition and the airline food is pretty expensive. What does burn me up is the other service members, like myself, who don’t exactly scream Marine or Soldier while we are off duty (in fact as Marines we cannot travel in our camouflage uniforms). When the announcement was made over the PA system, no acknowledgement of anyone else on the plane who may have served or be serving was made.

Basically, next time you are traveling and see someone in uniform, be sure to thank them for their service. It will mean a lot to them, especially now with the unpopularity of the wars. But don’t forget how many other service members may be around you too, you just may not be aware of their presence.